Google Buys 781 Megawatts of Wind, Solar Power in Three Nations

The Alphabet Inc. unit completed five deals to buy the output from power plants in the U.S., Chile and Sweden, and now has contracts for 2 GW of renewable energy worldwide, according to a statement Thursday. The power-purchase agreements run from 10 years to 20 years.

“It’s the largest, most diverse purchase of renewable energy by a non-utility,” Michael Terrell, Google’s principal of energy and global infrastructure, said in an interview.

“We wanted to send the message that corporate America is really committed to driving the transition to a clean-energy economy,” Terrell said.

Wind and Solar

Google will buy 200 MW of power from Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc.’s Bluestem wind project, and 200 MW from Electricite de France SA’s Great Western wind project, both of which will be built in Oklahoma. The company will also buy 225 MW of U.S. wind power from independent power producer Invenergy LLC.

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In Chile, Google will use 80 MW of solar power from Acciona Energia SA’s El Romero farm, which will be built in the Atacama region. And in Sweden, the company agreed to buy 76 MW of wind power from Eolus Vind AB’s Jenasen wind project, which will be built in Vasternorrland County.

Google signed its first large-scale power purchase agreement in 2010, when it agreed to buy power from a wind farm in Iowa. Last week, Google announced that it would buy 61 MW from a solar farm in North Carolina – the first customer under a new state program that lets companies buy renewable energy directly from local utilities.

In July, Google committed to tripling its purchases of renewable energy by 2025. At the time, it had contracts to buy 1.1 GW of such power.